Weekend Indulgence (Part 1) - Caprice

The old saying of "it never rains but it pours" seems to hold true to us lately - luckily it's not about misfortunes but memorable dining moments that we seem to have experienced in quick succession. I can't think of a better way to wind down a week's "hard" work than (occasionally) indulging ourselves in good food and wine, so here we are on a Friday evening, at 7:30pm sitting in the dining room of this fine restaurant (of whom many said is the best in town). Oh yes, it's also an early celebration to my wife's birthday too.

The décor's elegantly relaxing - it does sound like an oxymoron, but the surroundings do give you a sense of majesty without feeling uptight. Rows of chandeliers hang on the ceiling with modern lighted floor, open kitchen in the center stage of the vast dining room with magnificent harbor view in front... it's almost as much fun looking at people enjoying their food as chefs preparing them and we were glad that our table gave us a little bit of each.


After carefully surveying through the menu, we opted for the 6-course tasting dinner. Not a difficult decision really given everything on the menu seems so attractive. The wine list has a reasonable selection and good variety but seems to be on the pricier end (yet still have a few good value choices available), and the sommelier has been very helpful to sort out my dilemma of wine selection between a few that I think are equally good. Service's friendly but not over the line - you can feel they did genuinely try everything they can to make you feel comfortable.


Then the next few couple hours can only be described as magical. Everything that was brought out from the open kitchen on to our table is nothing short of flawlessness - by everything I meant from the amuse bouche of potato two-ways, to the appetizer of slow-cooked lobster with daikon raviolo and jellified tomato "gazpacho", all the way to dessert and petit fours. My personal favorite is the salmon, which was smoked and then oil-poached in low temperature, and served with rich-flavored sauteed morel mushrooms and a dash of herb coulis on the sides; while CYY loves the juicy and tender suckling pig which was cooked to perfection and served with cabonara orzo pasta (a risotto-like pasta) and sage jus. The sauteed foie gras crusted with poppy seeds with white asparagus is another dish that I like a lot too.


When the cheeseboard was brought in front of us, we can't help but exclaimed at the variety and interesting selections (that means those we have never seen), and the server was very patient in introducing and explaining and recommending. That certainly was another highlight of the evening - we already plotted to return some time later as we enjoyed our cheese course, even just for more cheese and a good bottle of burgundy. There are some restaurants that we keep saying to ourselves that we will return some day but never did, but I am sure (and hope) this is not going to be one of them.

I never believe there's such a thing called an impeccable meal, but I guess our evening at Caprice was as close as it gets. We had yet another reason to say "Thank God It's Friday!"

details:
when? May 14 2010
where? caprice at four seasons hong kong
occasion? CYY's Birthday Dinner - Part 1
menu highlights? Olive oil-poached Smoked Salmon, Morel Mushroom and Fresh Herb Coulis
drinks? Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey Chambertin Vielles Vignes 2005

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